Lady Franklin in Cincinnati
New-York Daily Tribune, Thursday, July 28, 1870, p. 8, cols. 2–3
LADY FRANKLIN IN CINCINNATI.
The Cincinnati papers of Monday say: Lady Jane Franklin arrived in the city Saturday morning, and is a guest of the Burnet House. She seems to take great pleasure in travel, and has made the acquaintance of nearly every ocean and every quarter of the globe. Saturday she received at the Burnet House only a few of the many who called to see her. In the evening she was taken to the suburbs, and at Mr. Probasco's was entertained. Yesterday she visited Spring Grove. To-morrow she will proceed to New-York and thence to England, visiting Niagara Falls on the way. She is between seventy and eighty years of age—is in the enjoyment of good health and the full possession of vigorous mental powers. She is a woman of medium hight, and full habit, seems comparatively vigorous for her age; has a full, square face, with good features—the face of a well-bred, intelligent, and kind-hearted lady—and at the same time a strong English face. As she occupies an easy-chair and receives those introduced to her, one after another, she displays unimpaired perceptive faculties and more than average conversational ability. She talks fluently and readily of her travels, of peoples and countries, and of the impressions that she gathers in her wanderings hither and thither, now in Europe, now in South America, then in the United States and Canadas, now, again, in Asia and the islands of the Pacific. She dresses in black, with white sack, full white cap and loose white kids.
Lady Franklin has with her three constant companions, Miss Cracroft, a middle-aged lady, niece of Sir John, who has traveled with her for 20 years, a maid servant and a courier. In this trip the party left home for South America, stopping at Valparaiso, traveling thence, after crossing the Isthmus, by one of our Government vessels to Alaska. Unable to obtain transportation south or east from Sitka sooner, she was forced to remain there nearly five weeks. She returned by way of San Francisco, Salt Lake, Omaha and Chicago. Her object in coming to Cincinnati was to meet Capt. C. F. Hall, the famous Arctic explorer of this city, who is at home preparing for another Arctic voyage. She wanted to meet him, and hear from his own lips about the traces of her husband that he had found, after the expeditions she had fitted out had made their reports. She wanted to hear, too, many of the minor, and to others uninteresting, details of his travels and discoveries, that he has never had an opportunity to publish. In the large drawing-room of the Burnet House, Saturday afternoon, Lady Franklin and Miss Cracroft received many citizens, including city officials and merchants.
On Sunday, after church, Lady Franklin and Miss Cracroft, under the escort of Capt. C. F. Hall and Mr. J. W. Caldwell, were driven to Spring Grove Cemetery, which Lady F. enthusiastically said was finer than any city of the dead in England—the most beautiful cemetery, in fact, she had ever seen. She was surprised, too, at the evidences of wealth and culture afforded by the countless monuments. The party next visited Avondale, and, before returning, stopped and were entertained at the residence of Miles Greenwood, esq. During the drive, and during her stay in Cincinnati, Lady Franklin has learned from the lips of Capt. Hall facts of priceless value to her, and of which no other living man could so well have told her. Her visit, on this account, and in every way, has been an interesting one.
Citation
New-York Daily Tribune, "Lady Franklin in Cincinnati," Thursday, July 28, 1870, p. 8, cols. 2–3. Source: newspapers.com image 85358371.
